Total pages in book: 362
Estimated words: 347293 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1736(@200wpm)___ 1389(@250wpm)___ 1158(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 347293 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1736(@200wpm)___ 1389(@250wpm)___ 1158(@300wpm)
Sixth? My eyes widened, and I shook my head. I glanced at Aios, opened my mouth, and then closed it.
“What?” She nudged me with her shoulder.
“Nothing.” I smiled. “I have no idea what Kye will do when he gets here.”
“It won’t be anything too invasive,” she said. “Just a general exam. Mostly, he will likely talk with you and Nyktos.”
I exhaled slowly. “Okay.”
Aios left so I could change into something other than a robe. I dressed not for the appointment with Kye but for what would come afterward, donning thick leggings and a white vest over a black linen blouse. I was finishing with the last of the hooks on the vest when I felt Nektas.
Leaving the top hook undone because it wasn’t entirely comfortable, I returned to the antechamber.
The moment the draken walked in from the balcony and our eyes met, I knew Ash had told him. It was the softness in his features and gaze. I stopped halfway to the raised platform, a knot of emotion lodging in my throat.
In less than a breath, Nektas held me in his arms and lifted my bare feet off the floor. The hug surprised me, but I got over it quickly, throwing my arms around his neck. He smelled of wind and earth.
“Sera,” he said in his gravelly voice, pressing his cheek to the side of my head.
I squeezed my eyes shut, soaking in his warmth. “Crazy, huh?”
He chuckled roughly. “It is, but in the best possible way.” He lowered me to my feet and drew back, his hands moving to my shoulders as his thin pupils dilated. “I thought I scented something from you before but wasn’t sure what it was.”
My brows snapped together. “When you smelled death on me?”
“No.” His laugh was low. “As I told you before, that was because I smelled Ash on you.”
“Oh.” My face warmed. “I probably could’ve lived without you bringing that up again.”
“It was when you returned from the riders and we were on the balcony,” he explained. “Your scent had changed.”
“Do I even want to know what that means?”
One side of his lips curved up. “Your scent was richer and more of a mix of you and Ash than it ever was before. It has been so long since I’ve been around a Primal who was with child that it didn’t even cross my mind.” His hands slid to mine, and he held them gently. “I am so incredibly happy for you and Ash. This is…” He took a deep breath, his voice roughening even more. “This is something I never dared to dream for him.”
“He said the same,” I whispered, blinking back…what else? Tears. Gods, the crying thing was getting annoying. “How was he when he told you?”
“Eager,” he said, letting go of my hands. My lips curved up. “As soon as we were alone, he blurted it out. I wasn’t sure I had heard him correctly at first.”
“Were you as still as a statue?” I asked. “Because he was when I told him.”
“I’m sure I was.” Strands of hair slid over his shoulder when he tilted his head. “What I saw in his eyes today…I’ve never seen before.”
“What did you see?”
“It is hard to put into words.” He took a moment. “But it was like seeing a man who suddenly realizes they have earned everything they could ever ask for.”
“Oh.” I clapped my hands over my mouth. “I think I’m going to cry.”
That soft look filled his features once more. “It’s okay if you do.”
“No, it’s not.” I stepped back, waving my hands at my face as if that would actually help. “Okay. I need to talk about something other than Ash being perfect.”
Nektas grinned at me. “We still on for today?”
I frowned. Nektas planned to travel with us to the Thyia Plains and then on to the Callasta Isles. “Why wouldn’t we be?”
An indiscernible look flickered across his features. “Just checking.” He quickly moved on. “How are you handling the news?”
“Oh, you know.” Clearing my throat, I stopped flapping my hands at my face. “Alternating between being really happy, terrified, and excited while wondering what in the world I did to deserve this.”
“I can name several reasons why you deserve this.”
“And I can name one really big reason that nullifies all those reasons,” I replied with a dry laugh.
The smile slipped from Nektas’s face. “What do you mean?”
The same thing that happened with Aios repeated itself. My mouth opened but words sat defiantly on the tip of my tongue.
“Sera,” he said, his vibrant gaze sweeping over my features.
Shaking my head, I plopped down on the sofa. “I…” This was hard to say out loud. “I just keep asking myself how this is possible. After all the lives I took, how did I end up carrying life inside me?”
A small frown pulled his brows down. “That’s not how any of this works—”